# "Wordle," a strangely compelling word game (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [December 24, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604 "2021-12-24T21:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 473
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9441 "2023-03-03T10:47:06Z")
Wordle 622 2/6 🟩⬜🟨⬜🟩 SLART (11) Well, I guess I _do_ know 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SQUAT Given my starting word, this was all but a repeat of SWEAT recently, which made this one quick and easy since I still had my notes. This was my 400th Wordle, so I’ll have stats later. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9442 "2023-03-03T11:12:53Z")
Wordle 622 3/6\* πŸŸ¦β¬›β¬›β¬›β¬› πŸŸ§β¬›πŸŸ¦β¬›πŸŸ§ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 ALONE SHART SQUAT That took a good while to see. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9443 "2023-03-03T11:34:13Z")
Trap stats: (not spoilery; hidden to reduce clutter) > **Click to expand** > > 1053 traps with 2 solutions > 233 traps with 3 solutions > 68 traps with 4 solutions > 18 traps with 5 solutions > 7 traps with 6 solutions > 3 traps with 7 solutions > 1 trap with 8 solutions > 1 trap with 9 solutions > > The traps with fewer solutions kind of overwhelm the higher ones just from sheer volume. First thing I did was removed the twos, and will possibly remove the 3s as well. > > Then I weighted each trap based on (solutions - 2), since after removing the 2s the minimum number of solutions is 3. For example, the \_OWER (CLMPRST) trap has 7 solutions, meaning that trap contributes 7-2=5 to the total for each letter. > > After all that, the top trap letters are, in order, with spaces denoting tier breaks: > > T CPL DRHB NMFSW GE KAV IOU Y ZJ XQ > > I already posted the raw letter counts upthread, here is that list again for just the consonants: > > R TLS N C DHP MGB FKW V ZXQJ > > In my first two words I’m looking to check 7 consonants and 3 vowels. The vowels are a no-brainer with EAO, but the last consonant has some wiggle room: RTLSNC plus one of DHP. > > For my first word I want to use the lowest frequency letters that appear in the most traps, which I think gives me PLANT as my best opener. The ideal consonants would be TCPL, but those don’t make a valid word with any vowel. > > Assuming PLANT gets no hits, the followup would then be SCORE. If only one consonant hits, the followup could be S(PNT)ORE or ROLES. Seems workable, though I’ll miss having a rotating list of 17 openers. > > Armed with my new strategy, let’s see how I do… ---
**Author:** ![chiliwillybing](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chiliwillybing/32/12394_2.png) [@chiliwillybing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiliwillybing)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9444 "2023-03-03T12:15:24Z")
Wordle 622 3/6 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 RAISE SOAPY SQUAT ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9445 "2023-03-03T12:23:25Z")
If you want to average 3.4212 like the rest of the people on the list you can cheat like they did (I’m assuming). Go to [Wordle Solver](https://jonathanolson.net/wordle-solver/) Pick SALET and let it pick the next words for you. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9446 "2023-03-03T12:27:04Z")
Wordle 622 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CRANE TOILS PASTY SQUAT ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9447 "2023-03-03T12:37:46Z")
Wordle 622 4/6 β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›πŸŸ© β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›πŸŸ© πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 PLANT CARET ABOUT SQUAT Another cool design with my colored squares. A 4 is actually an improvement compared to my last bunch of games, so I’m happy with that. I did have to take a break after the 3rd guess and ponder for a half hour or so while doing other stuff, and then squat just came to me out of the blue. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9448 "2023-03-03T12:38:43Z")
Those aren’t people, they are programs / algorithms. ---
**Author:** ![SeaSun](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seasun/32/14820_2.png) [@SeaSun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaSun)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9449 "2023-03-03T12:51:10Z")
Ok, maybe a bit nitpicky, but the scoredle posts are kind of wiggin’ my eyes out with all the blurred green and yellow squares. πŸ˜΅β€πŸ’« Plus, there is no game number with it, so I can’t always tell what game number it’s for. My suggestion is to maybe just put the words and numbers _without_ the green and yellow squares, and add the game number with it. Thoughts on that? ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9450 "2023-03-03T13:11:42Z")
I know those aren’t people. But I think that people use algorithms for the leaderboard that was posted. Their purpose seems to be to get a low average not play the game. That number apparently is the lowest average possible. I have used that site to try to get ideas for how to play. But, it has for SALET, and a green A and yellow T to use PUBCO as the next word. That doesn’t help me any. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9451 "2023-03-03T13:12:38Z")
Wordle 622 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 🟨⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜🟨🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 HEART ABOUT JAUNT great so it ends in UAT- after several minutes of thought, turns out I did know… SQUAT ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9452 "2023-03-03T13:16:32Z")
> [@SeaSun](#): > > the scoredle posts are kind of wiggin’ my eyes out with all the blurred green and yellow squares. I can’t tell the difference between the colors of the squares in the Scoredle posts, and the colors of the squares that people have been posting all along. Like this one from the middle of last year: > [@SeaSun](#): > > 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ > ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 > ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Here’s mine from two days ago using Scoredle: > [@RTFirefly](#): > > 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ SLART (1,209) > ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 NICHE (31) > ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ DUMPY (1) > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 MOOSE What looks different? ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9453 "2023-03-03T13:47:00Z")
Scoredle 4/6\* 14,855 πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨ ADIEU (434) β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ©πŸŸ¨β¬› CAUSE (10) πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ¨ SCUBA (3) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SQUAT ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9454 "2023-03-03T14:23:44Z")
Wordle 622 3/6\* 🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟨⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Scoredle 3/6\* 14,855 🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜ SLATE (32) 🟩🟨⬜🟩⬜ STRAP (4) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SQUAT I don’t feel so bad about spending 20 minutes trying to figure out what the 3rd guess could be when Scordle tells me that the 4 options were β€œsquat, satai, satay, shoat” I can only speak for me: I have never heard of three of those words. Of course some joker with a million-word vocabulary will pop in to say how they were chatting about β€œshoats” and β€œsatays” yesterday will discussing their 43rd book of the week. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9455 "2023-03-03T14:29:31Z")
Wordle 622 4/6\* ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 BEARD MANIC SPLAT SQUAT ---
**Author:** ![SeaSun](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seasun/32/14820_2.png) [@SeaSun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaSun)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9456 "2023-03-03T14:56:25Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > What looks different? It’s that the Scoredle colored squares are blurred with the spoiler blur. And people aren’t putting the game number on the posts either. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9457 "2023-03-03T16:15:52Z")
Wordle 622 4/6 ⬜⬜🟦⬜⬜ 🟧⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟧🟦⬜🟧⬜ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 CRANE SPOIL - okay, so the vowels are narrowed considerably STRAY - so why, then, didn’t I think of the β€˜QU’ combo right off? SQUAT ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9458 "2023-03-03T18:25:52Z")
Wordle 622 4/6\* ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜🟨🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 PEARL ABOUT JAUNT SQUAT ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9459 "2023-03-03T18:37:36Z")
I’m pleased with a 3 today. Like @psychobunny, I had to work at it a bit. Just how I like them to go! Wordle 622 3/6\* β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 IRATE FAULT SQUAT ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/9461 "2023-03-03T22:11:11Z")
> **Wordle 622 4/6\* 3/3/2023** > > 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ > 🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜ > 🟩⬜🟨⬜🟩 > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 > > _A_BOVE β†’ Not many vowels left. I can try one next with some common consonants… > _TA_R_S_I β†’ Also not bad. Move the A over and try again… > **S** H_A_L **T** β†’ So, S??AT, not SPLAT, STRAT, SCHAT’s not a word… maybe there’s another vowel in there after all… > **SQUAT** > > Just realized it sounds like instructions from a Olde English exercise manual. (Ok, maybe throw in a β€œthou” there…) > > Scoredle 4/6\* > > 14,855 > 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ABOVE (2,442) best next: PAANS > 🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜ TARSI (59) best next: STATS > 🟩⬜🟨⬜🟩 SHALT (1) best next: SQUAT (only one left) > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SQUAT > > Scoredle seems to be big on the double-letter guesses here. I’m not sure why it thinks it’s guesses are better than mine… unless it has knowledge of the entire corpus of answers, and chooses the one that leaves the fewest remaining given what’s already gone before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=472) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=474)